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Author: dylanbrkim

After meeting “uncultivated”(NEW 430) Daisy and “known her for half an hour,”(NEW 430) Winterbourne decides to “take the liberty of introducing her”(NEW 430) to his “admirable aunt,”(NEW 430) Mrs. Costello, with his plan to “take her to the Chateau de Chillon.”(NEW 430) However, his aunt Mrs. Costello is not benevolent toward Daisy, by describing her as “a dreadful girl.”(NEW 430) Winterbourne strongly advocates her but Mrs. Costello says that Winterbourne is “too innocent”(NEW 430) and could “make some great mistake,” (NEW 430) such as “meddle with little American girls that are uncultivated.” (NEW 430) Although Winterbourne kept claimed that he is “not so innocent,” (New 430) but ironically, Mrs. Costello’s perspective of Daisy had deeply connected with Winterbourne, at the end of the story.

At the end of the story, when Winterbourne heard about Daisy who went to Rome that she had met Italian young men and having a great time with him, he tells Mrs. Costello that he sure made “some big mistake,” (NEW430) by misjudging Daisy and says she was right of her warning his mistake.

Winterbourne’s romantic attitude toward Daisy and his aunt Ms. Costello’s not benevolent feeling toward Daisy in this passage creates the irony between current and the future. When Ms. Costello says about her perspective to Winterbourne, in order to discuss about her, it had foreshadowed the instance of Winterbourne regretting his mistake that he made. This instance made him go back to Geneva, but ironically again, he cultivates his life pretty smoothly, although we think if that incident happens, it would be hard to continue is normal life.

Maggie is an unfortunate lonely young lady. She is lonely because she was born in “tenement house”(965) consisted with families stained with alcoholic and violence and gets abandoned by her families and friends. She is unfortunate because her tragic life is ultimately started from family and social environment, such as poverty, alcoholic, and inequality, revealing naturalism.

However, she is not a lonely young lady. She is not lonely because she grew up as a beautiful minded lady. She is not lonely because she has a short moment joyful but painful lover, Pete. She is not lonely because she has an only “imperturbable amid suffering”(965) job “in a shirt factory.”(965) But most of all, she is not lonely because she has a romantic hope and dream. How could she just be lonely if she has a romantic dream and hope to build her life better?

Thus, she knows the big power of dream and hope, no matter it is romantic or realistic. One day, her lover, Pete, “took her to see plays”(964), which was about “clutching heroine was rescued from the palatial home of her guardian.”(964) By watching the scene of the “march from poverty,”(965) to “wealth and triumph”(965), she starts to cultivate her romance of future life.

By watching “the heroine on the stage,”(965) it “made her think” that if she could at least imitate, “perhaps grotesquely”(965) of “the culture and refinement she had seen,”(965) she imagined about “acquired” (965) those, who lives a “suffering”(965) life, living “in a tenement house”(965) and working “in a shirt factory.”(965) She was hoping that she could “eventually surmounted the wealthy and wicked”(965) from the life of “the poor and virtuous.”(965)

In conclusion, after watching a play, this innocent and naive young lady believes the principle of didactic and good triumph over evil, which is supported by “melodrama”(965), as a principle of real world. Rather in the real world, Maggie is morally more noble than her families, friends, and neighbors, but sold as the depraved and corrupted existence who dishonored her house and family.

However, regardless with her free will, her bright internal “raised spirit”(965) and hope was covered by the dark external power of cruel, violent, poor, and inequal society. As a logic of naturalism, her stimulation of her imagination and fuel of her hope “acquired by”(965) play, was never free and had to be sacrificed by the poor social factors.

This is original copy of NSC-68, the topic I am doing for my research paper, which isa “primary source.” (I used that as a main source for this evaluation afterapproval from teacher.) This 58-page policy plan document reveals current situations of United States, purpose, it’s possible actions, and recommendations, presenting a comprehensive strategy for confronting Soviet Union and winning the cold war. However, although all part of this government released document was the most useful and important source for this research paper, I would like to focus on the part where Nitze wrote about US situation and conclusion.

This document begins with the origins of Cold War and describes clear but forceful actions of spreading and rationalizing anticommunist idea globally. As response to this, NSC-68 describes (or assumes) United States as a protector and savior of free world, but sets Soviet Union as a country that is attempting to dominate the world with a dirty greed and ambition. Based on this logic, United States conclude that the Soviet Union, in fact, is the most significant threat on United States history and emphasizes that “the cold war is in fact a real war in which the survival of the free world is at stake.” After concluding this perspective of Cold War and Soviet Union, as a resolution, NSC 68 urges massive increase of U.S. military strength and more spending on economic aid to the nations with a danger of communization.

NSC 68, as a original and primary source of my research paper, it gave me a tons of resources and information than reading a book or magazine about review of this. Although this was written in the perspective ‘at that time,’ which was totally different than modern world where we are living right now, it was somewhat hard to understand, but overall, by providing the detailed explanation, I was able to reach few level higher about the knowledge and analysis about NSC-68 and the age of Cold War. However, though I define this source as the best, it had a limitation of being written in ‘United States Perspective,’ which has many non-sense justifications, and so on. However, with many reviews, such as print book and journals, this empty spaces and weaknesses of NSC 68 were filled in by those, and created a perfect harmony: Primary source and review journals & print books.

My second source evaluation of my research paper is the journal Revisiting “NSC 64” by Ken Young. He starts with providing a brief discussion of the various historical context of the document, such as a controversies and of usage of languages, it’s styles and tones. After this, Young investigates the historiography of NSC 68, connecting with recent writings that enable us to know think about U.S. foreign policy in broader aspects.

The part of this journal that most attracted me was a section “Continuity or Major Departure?,” and number of thoughtful conclusions that Young brought up. In the section of “Continuity or Major Departure?” Young starts with revisiting the contested issue of whether NSC 68 represented continuity with past policy or a sharp departure from it. He argues that for the defenders of NSC 68, the document represented continuity with the policy of George F. Kennan, whereas, for critics, it marked a sharp departure, amounting to “the confrontational turn in U.S. foreign policy.”(12) Along this, though it did not explained thoroughly, it also revealed slightly about the timing of North Korea invading South Korea, which one of my major interest in this research paper.

Major part of this source evaluation about my research paper was Young’s concluding point, which was mentioned above. While writing this journal, he observes that “The significance of NSC 68 is not that it proposed a new view of the U.S. national security interest” (32) but “more immediate
but ultimately more apocalyptic assessment of the Soviet threat.” (32) Before I started researching, I was agreeing with the first half of the preceding sentence, but with many of basis that he evaluated from various documents, he concluded majorly with Soviet Union.

My first source evaluations contains two sources: one of them is a printed book source, “We now know: Rethinking Cold War History” and another on is an online source, from US Department of State, Office of Historian. These two sources brought significant resources and information that can be used for my research paper, especially, by making me feel these two sources are have similar or even same kind of it but actually different in some aspects, when I was reading them.

The online source one specifically focuses on the NSC-68. It reveals the process of how and what Policy Planning Staff, led by Paul Nitze undertook the comprehensive review of US National Security issues and strategies, asked by Dean Acheson, the Secretary of State at that time, and presented to President Harry S. Truman. It also explains the detail facts of actions, in order to United States successfully defend territory and oversea interests, such as isolationism, diplomatic efforts to negotiate with the Soviets, and the “rapid building up of the political, economic, and military strength of the free world,” with a support of a massive build-up of both conventional and nuclear arms in order to deter Soviet Union. Although this online source tends to emphasize the policy toward Soviet Union, but in the book, Lewis Gaddis does not specifically focuses on NSC-68 nor emphasizes about Soviet Union, but relates with the conflict between the United States, Russia, China and their respective allies from 1946 to the Korean War and Cuban missile crisis in the autumn of 1962, and explains how NSC-68 content had affected US Policy toward various international issues.

The huge difference that I found by reading those sources are that US Department of State Office of Historian website is not biased since it only tells general detailed facts of NSC-68, but the book “We now know: Rethinking Cold War History” contains the review and perspective of Lewis Gaddis, which makes the process of my research paper source evaluation more interesting by comparing many other perspectives of cold war and NSC-68.

Twain did not simply just only expressed the enjoyable adventures of children and sympathy to one another as a best friend, by “do everything he could think of,”(262 OLD) but also criticized the nature of human’s cruelty of the racism.

While having an adventure with Jim, Huck Finn, other than what people thought at that time, he realizes that all people is equal and should be treated equally. Being so, even though getting “betwixt two things,”(262 OLD) he “got to decide” (262 OLD) that he has to help Jim, who “do everything he could think of for me” (262 OLD) and was “good always he was,” (262 OLD) thinking he “was the best friend old Jim ever had in the world.” (262 OLD)

At that time, American society was confronting sharply between the people who support slavery and people who does not. African-American, who were the unfortunate lowest class of the American society was not a human but a beast or a object.

Young slaves were supposed to suffer by harsh labor and cruel whipping, and sold to other place and underwent tearing apart with their family. As so, like Jim, there were many young slaves attempting to escape. However, it was not easy. When they failed to escape and caught they got whipped harshly and even got killed. Even though they succeed for escape, because they were not educated, they became a loafer in the city.

Adults also taught that if we help slaves to escape, “I come to being lost and going to hell.” (261 OLD). However, Huck decides. “I’ll go to hell-and tore it up.” (262 OLD). He decided to follow conscience by feeling “good and all washed clean of sin.” (261 OLD). And finally makes Jim to escape.

This novel is taking place when slavery was still legal and the main economic foundation, especially in South part of America. Those African-Americans were a private-owned property and were physically and mentally abused, exploited, etc. Main character is Huck and his friend Jim, is a “nigger” serves as the role of the slavery at that time, and uneducated. As same as other African-Americans at that time, Jim was also treated inhumanely.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which at least assume so, it could be belong to picaresque novel, which makes us explore the gloomy shadow of society, indirectly. With irony and humor, he excessively satire the racism issues, which are the most serious and intense social problem in America, in a same time, the courage of building the foundation of American culture by wit, the characteristic emotion of America, coincide with the frontier that making an African-American as a companion and it’s alter ego and using an African-American vernacular on literature.

However, when reading the first part of this book, opposed to the first impression of this novel, the things that were already confusing was that Twain, who was close to the African-Americans personally, was mocking African-Americans by using ridiculous scoffing way of speaking, when he was describing them. However, by reading through, it was realized and brought an attention to that Twain breaks the prejudice and misunderstanding of African-Americans satirically, by exaggerating those ludicrously, in order to express how general common idea toward African-Americans does not make sense. For example, in the first part of book, when Jim was saying and spreading the word about the fact that he saw a ghost and making Jim as a heroic character by every African-Americans near him and even farther from him, coming and listening to him carefully. The scene described in here is unreliable and does not make sense at all. Which means Twain implied an irony to the nonsensically exaggerated description. However, when we view this scene egocentrically and visually, this scene could be seen as Twain ridiculing African-American. Like this, Twain had described and point out exactly about what African-Americans are walking their own way with nonsense and ridiculous prejudices and how society should treat them.